


Half-Finished Notions

by bubblewrapstargirl



Series: One Shots [17]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Castiel Has a Guinea Pig, Complete, First Kiss, Future Fic, Hunters & Hunting, Let's All Just Pretend Season 9 Ended Happy Okay, M/M, Men of Letters Bunker, Season/Series 09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-02
Packaged: 2018-02-06 14:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1862031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblewrapstargirl/pseuds/bubblewrapstargirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean tells himself he is absolutely not jealous of the fuzzy creatures that have taken up residency in the bunker, even when he catches Cas talking to them at all hours of the day.</p><p> </p><p>"Imagine Person B of your OTP getting a pet for Person A, but soon became jealous of the pet for getting so much of Person A’s attention." -- Prompt from imagineyourotp.tumblr.com</p>
            </blockquote>





	Half-Finished Notions

Dean is the first to admit that he’s always been dubious about pets and animals in general. In this life, the only animals he has frequent contact with, are the ones jacked up with superpowers that are trying to eat, dismember or otherwise maim him. Sam’s always been a bleeding heart, especially for dogs, but Dean never really saw the appeal. Sure, he’d gotten along just fine with Bobby’s various guard dogs; but they were working animals that had a function. Animals can often sense the supernatural before humans do, after all. It was just one more layer of protection. Dean could dig that. When you have a home base to defend, it makes sense.

But Sammy always wanted a pet to coddle, a remnant of his wish for normality, and Dean couldn’t help but scorn it. They live on the road; it would suck for the animal to be cooped up, and more importantly, Baby would smell like dog.

Dean’s tolerance of animals took a nosedive after being forcibly dragged to Hell. Hellhounds bear little resemblance to their earthly counterparts, but Dean’s got bigger things in his life to worry about than addressing his irrational aversion to four-legged beasts. If it’s got teeth, and jaws powerful enough to take a chunk out of you, then as far as he's concerned it’s only sensible to be wary of it, paranormal abilities or no.

Portia the dog-woman doesn’t do much to change his mind, and neither do the various skinwalkers, werewolves and black dogs they’ve ganked over the years. But then along comes the Colonel, and the case where Dean has to drink a potion that tastes like ass and turns him into Dr Doolittle. He really didn’t intend to become a dog-lover, but there's no denying he's a lot more tolerant of the furry beasts than he was before.

Cas, of course, has always treated animals as another of God’s wonderful but ultimately confusing creations. But aside from his affinity for bees, he’s never really shown an interest. So Dean’s not really expecting Cas to ask for a pet when he moves into the bunker. Dean wants to say no - how are they going to care for it when they’re on cases? But he can count on one hand the amount of times Cas has asked him for something, and he’s still feeling guilty as hell for kicking him out of the bunker back when he was a human. It’s worth the added complication in their lives for the look on Cas’ face when he agrees to let him get a guinea pig (where the actual hell did he came up with that as the ideal pet, seriously).

Sam laughed his ass off when Dean came home with an overjoyed angel and three of the squeaking little creatures, because Cas did research beforehand and apparently “it’s cruel to get just one, Dean, guinea pigs are herd animals by my Father’s design for a reason”. Dean doesn’t bother arguing; it’s not as if one is any more convenient than three.

“Dude, you are so whipped.” Sam snorted, when Dean glared at him for laughing. He ignored the clench of his stomach when he looked at the satisfied smile on Cas’ face.

*

In the end, the guinea pigs are good for all of them. Sam loves petting them and even Dean gets a kick out of coaxing them over with bundles of parsley and watching their little ears twitch when they run. But first and foremost, they’re Cas’ pets, and the angel lavishes attention on them. Cas has named them Athos, Porthos and Aramis, despite the fact that they’re all girls. Porthos is Dean’s favourite; she’s the chubbiest of the three, and covered in tufts (that Cas insists are called ‘rosettes’) which make her fur stick up in all directions.

Dean tells himself he is absolutely not jealous of the fuzzy creatures that have taken up residency in the bunker, even when he catches Cas talking to them at all hours of the day, monologuing about theoretical physics and things the Bible got incorrect and all manner of other complex concepts. Cas just needed something to fuss over, and Dean is glad that it’s no longer him. Really, he is. And he absolutely does not make up reasons why Cas is needed for research or movie trivia purposes, no matter what Sam and his judgey bitchfaces say.

It all comes to a head on evening, when Dean found Cas in the pet room, stroking Aramis' smooth ginger fur and humming what sounded like Metallica's 'Nothing Else Matters' under his breath.

"Are you seriously serenading a guinea pig, Cas?"

Dean didn't mean for it to come out as harsh as it did, but Cas only raised an unimpressed eyebrow in response.

"The cavies enjoy the harmonious melodies." He said, with an air of offended superiority.

Dean sighed, taking up a spot on the floor beside his best friend. Cas was ignoring him in favour of gently running his fingers through Aramis' silky fur. 

"Is everything all right, Dean?"

Cas looked up at him, bright eyes glittering in the low lighting of the bunker at dusk. The roof of Dean's mouth suddenly seemed dry, his tongue immovable. He coughed to clear his throat, embarrassed to be caught off guard in a moment of sentimentality.

"Yeah," he lied, "It's all good, Cas."

Cas made a quiet grumble of disbelief, before setting the guinea pig on the ground. Dean watched as she quickly waddled off to join her sisters in the large hutch in the far corner of the room. When he met Cas' gaze again, Dean was unsurprised to find the angel watching him with a puzzled frown.

"You have been withdrawn of late," said Cas.

Dean shrugged, aware that Cas wasn't buying his bullshit. At this point, anything he said would probably be taken wrong. And he sure as shit wasn't about to complain about Cas' spending time with his beloved little pets.

So he ignored the issue completely; "Sam caught us a case in New Mexico. Looks like it might be a revenant. The zombie version, not the ghost version."

"They are quite rare creatures." Cas pointed out, gracefully allowing for the subject change. "Why not just a regular zombie?"

Dean shrugged. "Sam found some news articles. Guy spent years trying to prove some local government dude cheated his parents out of their company. Lawyers, campaigns, protests, all that jazz. Then he dies, and a week later his grave is 'vandalised', coffin found empty, and the government dude? Heart ripped right out of his chest. We'll keep digging once we get there, but it sure sounds like a revenant zombie to me."

Cas nodded, his eyes revealing he was paying close attention, and that so far he agreed with Dean's reasoning. Dean grinned, buoyed by Cas' faith in him. He knew Cas trusted him, especially when it came to hunting - but he was glad for the reminder, all the same.

He ploughed on with his explanation; "The real question is, which stupid sap resurrected him? And is that the only stupid thing they've done? We can only hope it's just some idiot that stumbled across real magic, not a full-blown witch with an axe to grind. Zombies I can handle any day, but I can't stand freaking witches, man."

"They are troublesome, and misguided," Cas acknowledged with a tilt of his head. "But I am led to believe that not all witches have to be this way. Some do not practice their arts with the intentions of harming others."

Dean felt himself squinting in confusion and obvious suspicion. James Frampton had been the only semi-decent witch they'd encountered in all their travels, and only because he'd started practicing witchcraft with the explicit intention of using it to be a better cop. Then what Cas meant suddenly clicked, and he huffed out an incredulous laugh.

"Dude, have you been watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch again?"

Cas didn't blush now that he was a full angel again, but he did look chagrined, and Dean could sense embarrassment in every flicker of movement across his face.

"It is a harmless pastime. She is a very courageous young woman, if occasionally hindered by her immaturity." said Cas, somewhat defensive.

Dean couldn't suppress an eye-roll, half in exasperation, half disbelief. "It's fiction, Cas. Real witches are skeevy. And gross."

"I know that," Cas grumbled, before seeming to shake himself out of it. "Do you wish me to accompany you on your hunt? I remember how to wield a shotgun."

"Thanks Cas, but I doubt it'll be a Croat. Revenants have gotta be staked - preferably back into their coffin." Dean smiled at the offer though. There was a warmth somewhere in his stomach region, reminding him how much he liked Cas being around permanently, coming on hunts, and researching intel. It was a refreshing change from the 'fluttering away on angel business' crap that had seemed to dominate their interaction in the past couple of years. Dean guarded his time with Cas jealously now, but that didn't mean he was going to drag the poor guy on every hunt. Cas deserved his rest and freedom as much as anyone.

"We'll call if we need you alright? No point unsettling your pets for a short case like this. We should be back in four, five days, tops. Definitely no longer than a week. Not unless we catch wind of some other thing that needs ganking, but we'll call if we do."

"All right, Dean." Cas returned his affectionate grin, happy to defer to Dean's judgement, as he often did these days. As though he couldn't stand the thought of being in charge.

"Well, I better get my beauty rest." said Dean, but he was a reluctant to leave. After dragging it out another minute or two, he finally whispered; "G'night, Cas."

Then, without really registering what he was doing, he leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss against Cas's lips. Cas's eyes widened in surprise, before fluttering shut. One of Dean's hands reached up and found the angel's jaw as he opened his mouth, just a little. Then it was over: Dean pulled away, barely aware of what he was doing. It all seemed so natural. The kiss had been soft and sweet, and Cas barely held in a whimper at the loss when Dean let go.

Now, Cas was watching him with big blue eyes, his face unreadable. Eventually, he nodded, and simply said; "Goodnight, Dean."

Somehow, Dean gathered his wits enough to stumble back to his room, his thoughts tumbling on top of one another, brain fuzzy with confusion; but with the inexplicable, overwhelming sensation of satisfaction.

**Author's Note:**

> I had a guinea pig for years and years. I recommend them as pets to anyone. They're adorable, well-behaved, and can be trained. Don't believe that bullshit about them only living for 5 years; if you take care of them they'll live far longer. Mine was 10 years old when I had to give him away.
> 
> \---  
> Episodes including revenants [zombie version]:  
> 2x04- MOTW  
> 4x01- mentioned  
> 4x07- summoned by MOTW  
> 8x06- mentioned  
> [ghost version]:  
> 2x16- MOTW
> 
> It always bothered me that they never addressed the differences between zombies, revenant-zombies and revenant-ghosts on the show.


End file.
